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Peugeot's EVs for Iran

A delegation from France's PSA Peugeot Citroen met with Managing Director of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran Mansour Moazzami on Tuesday in the Iranian capital.

The French delegation consisted of the group's top flight board members, including Executive Vice President for Middle East and North Africa Christophe Quemard and General Counsel Olivier Bourges.

The European side is believed to have proposed a set of vehicles and procedures that would happen in the coming weeks regarding the Citroen platform, IRNA reported.

Moazzami said based on the policies of the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Trade, domestic production of spare parts and export of auto products were emphasized in the meeting.

Following the meeting, Financial Tribune's sister publication, Donya-e-Eqtesad, quoted an unnamed official as saying that PSA plans to buy a 20% stake in SAIPA Kashan.

The official, close to the deal, said the French car company hopes to turn the central Iranian city into the Middle East's largest hub with export plans targeting India as well.

The SAIPA official added that the Paris-based company intends to invest €300 million in the plant in the next couple of years.

When ready, they expect to sell vehicles priced from 400 million to 1.2 billion rials, according to Asre Khodro.

The company also expects to bring in vehicles like Citroen's C-Zero that currently retails for 12,000 pound sterling (578 million rials).

C-Zero is effectively a rebadged version of Mitsubishi's i-MiEV and Peugeot's iOn. It has a 66 bhp electric motor fed by lithium-ion batteries mounted in the central body pane.

A full recharge takes seven hours from a household electricity supply, which is good for a range of around 130 km.

Citroen's C-Elysee is also rumored to be entering the Iranian market, according to the report.

The latest version of this Elysee vehicle has just been unveiled at the Beijing Motor show. It has been named E-Elysee because of its electric motor.

Dongfeng and Citroen also cooperated in electrifying the C-Elysee. The compact sedan, which uses an electric powertrain and a lithium-ion battery, can be driven for up to 250 km on a single charge. It will hit dealerships across China in 2017, but it’s not known yet whether Citroen plans to offer it, or its larger sibling, the C6, in other markets.

Another new car for the Asian markets is Dongfeng's new C6 based on the Dongfeng Fengshen A9 and the EMP2 platform, which also might make its way to the local market as Peugeot owns part of Dongfeng.

Sitting at more than 5 meters in length, with a 2.9-meter wheelbase, the flagship model is believed to wave goodbye to the V6 units used by its unrelated predecessor and go for a 1.8-liter turbocharged gasoline engine, producing a little over 200 HP and 207 pound-feet of torque.